Call for hunting ban in Jenolan State Forest

Unrestrained hunting dogs photographed in the Jenolan State Forest. Landholders are concerned about illegal hunting in the forest..

Gabrielle and Stephen Whitehead

Neighbours of the Jenolan State Forest in New South Wales, are calling for hunting to be banned, claiming that illegal activity is rife and hunters fired shots into their property.

Gabrielle and Stephen Whitehead, whose cabin is nestled in a valley just west of the Blue Mountains, say they heard shots on the Easter long weekend.

"Bullets were coming in our direction and within lethal killing distance.

"We were only 700 metres away."

The Whiteheads cabin is buffered by a small corner of the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve.

"Gabrielle was on the verandah, I was behind the cabin and we were effectively being shot at," says Mr Whitehead.

He says he isn't claiming that the hunters were knowingly shooting at their cabin, or property, but he is concerned.

"I'm not trying to paint the picture that someone was aiming at us through their scopes and trying to kill us.

"But... we're in the middle of nowhere, hidden behind trees and we have people shooting into the reserve, which they were doing illegally.

"They were on the very edge of the pine forest with their GPS unit, which shows where they are and where they can and can't shoot," Mr Whitehead says.

After hearing the gunshots, the pair drove their car to intercept the hunters.

One of the four in the group was a licensed hunter.

Gabrielle Whitehead says that the hunting is creating a lot of anxiety and it has affected her health.

"It raises my stress levels, my adrenalin goes through the roof, most of the time I feel like I am living in the lawless wild west.

"I'm a wreck, so much so that I went to the doctor because I wasn't feeling well and the stress levels have actually affected my thyroid gland and all sorts of things," Mrs Whitehead says.

The NSW Game Licensing Unit within the Department of Primary Industries, says it will be cracking down on illegal hunting in state forests this Queen's Birthday long weekend.

Recreational hunting reopened in state forests in January 2014.

At that time the new Game Licensing Unit, which replaced the controversial Game Council, released new regulations forcing hunters to carry a GPS device, with detailed mapping information.

Dr Andrew Moriarty is the head of that unit, he says their five compliance officers and police, were on the case over the Easter long weekend and they have responded to the Whitehead's concerns.

"We had detailed discussions with Mrs Whitehead about the incident.

"Mrs Whitehead didn't actually see that shot fired in that direction, [but] they confronted some hunters in the state forest, which is something that we're warning residents not to do."

"Some of the illegal people we pick up in the state forests do have a long criminal history," Mr Moriarty says.

The Whiteheads say that they are fearful, not only for their safety, but the safety of other bush users, such as mushroom pickers and hikers, who use the Jenolan State Forest and the neighbouring Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve.

They want the forest to be taken off the list of 200 state forests open for hunting in NSW.

Dr Moriarty says that this is very unlikely to happen.

"One of the things we've found, is that if you do close state forests to licenced, reputable hunting, there's a big increase in illegal hunting... [because] they provide a lot of intelligence to our compliance staff, about illegal activity."